Ars Technicast, Episode 20–Lifestyles of the digital and automated

Homes are becoming Jetsons-like. What are the benefits of so much automation?

Can we embrace our Roombas, Fitbits, and Nests like the Jetsons did with Rosie the robot?

Hanna Barbera

Home automation has long been relegated to the realm of nerds and home tinkerers. Back in 2008 we reviewed automated thermostats like the Ecobee, and the Ars OpenForum also discussed it. Fast forward to 2013, and consumers can take advantage of a lot of automation inside their homes with gadgets like the Nest and Phillips LED lightbulbs, which come with an open API for inventors to devise their own solutions. Today on the show we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of automation, and we take our chat one step further into automated lifestyle gadgets, like Fitbit and the Withings scale. Senior Apple Editor Jacqui Cheng is joined by Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson and Social Editor Cesar Torres to talk about the issues.

Are you down with automation? Or would you rather just use manual controls? If there are other automated home appliances and gadgets you want to talk about, share them with us in the comments section.

Promoted Comments

I think the Make community comes the closest to doing home automation to improve life versus home automation for home automation's sake, though there is a lot of experiment for the fun of it.

It isn't just automation though, but remote control as well.

In the podcast I heard a lot of "its kind of cool" and "it is fun" type of comments. It makes the technology they are discussing sound like first adopter stuff and not something people on a budget should sink their money in. Comments like "its a money saver" or "it is now essential" would sell me on the tech more.

I don't think the state of automation is still that good. I've tried every so often starting with X10 around years ago. I was inspired to try again after getting a Philips Hue set which gives gets you a Zigbee based controller. But finding even some of the basic things I'd like has proven more difficult then I thought it would be. It seems like the companies that produce the gear are working from the assumption that most people's ideas of home automation is based around turning lights on and off.

I don't mind that things are a bit pricey, even finding automation stuff that isn't based around manipulating light sources is not very fruitful. I'm starting to think that the real breakthrough will be when someone puts together a set of cheap Ariduino based control units that can be adapted to manipulate things besides light bulbs and have sensors attached for improved dumb automation, plus a nice API so that apps and server/services can be easily developed and are easily accessible.

Homes are becoming Jetsons-like. What are the benefits of so much automation?

The robot factories get to make more toys for us.

and we (usually) spend more on said devices. when our thermostat went out, i could have bought a normal programmable thermostat for $75-150, but instead i bought one of the 3m ones with wifi for $100. my wife made fun of me for wanting wifi in the thermostat, but now that she doesn't have to get out of bed or walk upstairs (we only have one unit for both floors) to change the temp (android app), she doesn't make fun of me anymore.

i still don't see the point of my fridge or dishwasher having a network connection, unless i can click a button on my phone and the fridge will bring me a nice cold Sobe or Bawls R00t B33r.

i'd like to replace a lot of our light switches with motion sensors (mainly just closets and bathrooms), so we can't accidentally leave lights on, wasting energy. i'd also like to add daylight sensors to the exterior lighting, so that i won't come home to a dark house if i forgot to turn on the porch light before i left.

I think the Make community comes the closest to doing home automation to improve life versus home automation for home automation's sake, though there is a lot of experiment for the fun of it.

It isn't just automation though, but remote control as well.

In the podcast I heard a lot of "its kind of cool" and "it is fun" type of comments. It makes the technology they are discussing sound like first adopter stuff and not something people on a budget should sink their money in. Comments like "its a money saver" or "it is now essential" would sell me on the tech more.

I am not sure I agree with wanting everything being tied together. A single point of failure can be a bad thing when your whole house depends on it. When our power is out we can still use our gas stove and hot water heater. Using the stove is not the best way to heat your home but when it is 20 outside and the power is expected to be out for a couple of days.....

I am not sure I agree with wanting everything being tied together. A single point of failure can be a bad thing when your whole house depends on it. When our power is out we can still use our gas stove and hot water heater. Using the stove is not the best way to heat your home but when it is 20 outside and the power is expected to be out for a couple of days.....

yup - had to do that during a freak ice storm in houston when i was growing up - put frozen food outside in coolers (to keep animals out), turn gas stove on warm, slightly cracked open, and light the gas fireplace. we all slept in the living room around the fireplace.

but really that has nothing to do w/ automation, but instead serves as a nice advert for natural gas - we still had nice hot showers, hot food, and a warm place to sleep. just had to use matches to light the stove since it was pilot-less.

I don't think the state of automation is still that good. I've tried every so often starting with X10 around years ago. I was inspired to try again after getting a Philips Hue set which gives gets you a Zigbee based controller. But finding even some of the basic things I'd like has proven more difficult then I thought it would be. It seems like the companies that produce the gear are working from the assumption that most people's ideas of home automation is based around turning lights on and off.

I don't mind that things are a bit pricey, even finding automation stuff that isn't based around manipulating light sources is not very fruitful. I'm starting to think that the real breakthrough will be when someone puts together a set of cheap Ariduino based control units that can be adapted to manipulate things besides light bulbs and have sensors attached for improved dumb automation, plus a nice API so that apps and server/services can be easily developed and are easily accessible.

My new washing machine has a scheduling feature which is quite handy. That's about it as far as automation at home. Was thinking about getting a robot vacuum cleaner, but concluded that doorsills, carpets and my 120lbs dog would be too much for it to handle.

Also as I live in an apartment, there just isn't much to automate. The heating is forecast controlled which is nice when the outside temperature is changing quickly.

Cesar Torres / Cesar is the Social Editor at Ars Technica. His areas of expertise are in online communities, human-computer interaction, usability, and e-reader technology. Cesar lives in New York City.